All parents (okay, almost all) go out of their way to expose their kids to certain experiences and to teach them the corresponding etiquette.

Soccer fans have their kids dressed in Manchester City or Liverpool jerseys watching Premier League matches. Video game gurus engage their kids with Roblox , Minecraft , and Fortnite adventures. Those interested in cookery use food as a teaching tool.

Here's what I am expert in: buy or check out a book from library to bring home. Tada! My daughter's face will

All parents yearn for their children to represent school in competition, an achievement worth uploading to social media platform. In fact, it might be tempting even to broadcast a live video to guarantee hundreds of "Like" on your post.

It is one thing to celebrate if your children get selected. But it is another thing altogether to consider how school teachers should choose the school team. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine took pride in his firsthand experience in school's choice of sending the best of the

To run, all we need is a pair of good running shoes and shorts. Period.

As Peter Sagal said in The Incomplete Book of Running : If you don't have sneakers, just grab your most comfortable shoes, or go barefoot on dirt or sand. If you don't have shorts, get an old pair of jeans and cut off the legs. If anybody judges you wearing ratty clothes, one of the privileges and benefits of running is leaving people behind.

To those who pay careful attention to

Not long ago I read a passage about falling into a valley. The valley can be a personal one or a societal one or both. It's a smash. All the way to the bottom.

But in case you thought it must be suffering that shatters everything at the very bottom, let me tell you the meaning of the valley, the lessons I'd learned from David Brooks after reading his new book The Second Mountain . Being in the valley lets us see deeper into ourselves, to move from self

You'll be forgiven if you've never heard of Téa Obreht. Her knack for writing began to be recognized in 2011 with her debut novel, The Tiger's Wife .

I had stumbled upon this book with Balkan history before my Croatian trip. I didn't have time to read it until my return from Croatia. My elder brother, who came back from the States to visit our family, couldn't hide his sly facial expression when he happened to see the novel

Flying by the seat of your pants, as advised by the Lonely Planet editor Don George, is a quintessential part of the traveller's act and art.

You can call itwhatever you like. You can call it flexibility. You can call it no-matter-what mindset. Some might call it a secret sixth sense that you never know where thejourney will take you - while others might go so far as to call it the eleventh hour.

Our recent trip to Croatia was the perfect example. Accommodation

Open any Croatian travel guidebook and you'll see turquoise ribbon of lakes lined up in a maze of awe-inspiring waterfalls.

That's World-Heritage-listed Plitvice Lakes National Park.

To prepare for our family trip this summer, I'd decided to buy the newest edition of Lonely Planet Croatia . I then checked out few more from the public library: National Geographic Traveler Croatia , Insight Guides Croatia , Croatia Unpacked . And then the pocket guide by Rick Steves.

If there's just one activity

It's hard to imagine running in countries with magical landscape. Add to the temptation of photographs, throw in a few Instagramable castles and wayside villages, and it's clear to see why we resist lacing and tying running shoes on the road.

During my summer vacation with family this week, I confirmed that Croatia and Slovenia's scenic credentials are impeccable. As a bonus to the trip, I picked the hour with less promising weather to give myself an excuse to sneak in a jog and put in serious

Be proud of who you are . Love yourself .

Right. That's what my nine-year-old reminds us. All embedded in nice handwritten notes.

Oh, and lest I forget.

Do your very best .

It's her summer holiday, and not ours. My daughter has much free time when we're at work. She designed a lovely box filled with those heart-warming notes.

It was such a joy to read and share quotes, and that's natural. We learn

What has struck me most in the renovation of the Hong Kong Museum of Art is that it has taken more than four years. And it sounds as if it will take forever.

So when we heard about local exhibitions like Affordable Art Fair and Van Gogh Alive, we were more than a little excited. It shouldn't surprise us that children's creativity is best unleashed outside classroom.

But wait, as our experience tells us, there's more. Free drawing and painting. Plenty of paper and sketch